SpaceX finally delivered space station supplies after a week of delays

Not many things went right for NASA and SpaceX last week.

Tonight's launch will be just the beginning for Starlink , if all goes according to plan. SpaceX aims to launch up to 12,000 satellites for the SpaceX isn't the only company with internet - satellite dreams. For example, both OneWeb and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin plan to start building up megaconstellations

First 60 @ SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon fairing. And many more will follow these pioneers, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX eventually aims to loft thousands of Starlink satellites , which will provide relatively cheap internet access to people around the world.

The goal of Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of SpaceX, is to send people to space. But how can he possibly pay for such an expensive venture? SpaceX, for all its successes, is still a fairly small company, and the profit margin on rocket launches is small.

The solution may be to start an entirely different space business: satellites to provide high-speed internet everywhere. The company’s next launch, scheduled for Wednesday evening, will put into space the first pieces for a constellation called Starlink.

China’s space program just suffered its first rocket launch failure since 2017

It's a rare setback for a program that has been full steam ahead.

The Starlink satellites , as they're called, are part of Musk's plans to build an unprecedented network of internet -providing spacecraft. SpaceX has said it aims to have internet coverage available starting in 2020. As one Twitter user noted in response to Musk, six additional launches of 60

Elon Musk’s space company, SpaceX , is planning to launch a set of 60 satellites in a single launch this week for the company’s Starlink broadband network. So don’t imagine yourself using Starlink connection any time soon. Even if this project takes years to pull off, it will nevertheless be exciting for

“This would provide connectivity to people who either don't have any connectivity today or where it's extremely expensive and unreliable,” Mr. Musk said during a news conference a few hours before launch.

A Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as early as 11:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, a 30-minute delay from the original scheduled launch. They did not explain the delay, but said on Twitter that the rocket was ready to take off. The launch can be pushed back as late as midnight.

The first 60 Starlink satellites are tightly packed in the payload fairing for the Starlink -1 mission. Photo Credit: Elon Musk / SpaceX . This particular flight is expected to utilize both a previously flown first stage and, for the first time, a previously flown payload fairing. The beginning of the first mega-constellation.

SpaceX readies for space -based internet service with 60 - satellite Starlink launch TODAY. The latest space race has started, with companies scrambling to build a functioning space internet . Today, only about 25 percent of the world is served by quality internet .

In September 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk when he tweeted, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The Federal agency claimed that the tweet, made in August, was propagating false statements to the public regarding a buyout deal for his company, Tesla, Inc. Both Musk and the company were fined $20 million each and he had to relinquish his position as the chairman for three years.

Here are some facts you may not have known about the inventor-entrepreneur.

At the age of nine, Musk taught himself computer programming. Three years later, he created a space-themed video game - "Blastar." The source code for the BASIC-based game was published in South African magazine "PC and Office Technology" for $500.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ bids to build US military rockets could reshape national security

The Air Force has been terrible at buying rockets. The current contract battle could shape American national security— and the future of private space companies writ large—access to revenue from military launches bolster a rocket-maker’s offerings to a range of potential customers. Musk’s SpaceX revolutionized the space industry and became the world’s leading commercial launcher thanks, in part, to winning Pentagon business.

First 60 @ SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon fairing. Also, in a big thumbs up for current safety standards, 95 percent of all components of this design will burn up in Earth's atmosphere at the end of each satellite 's lifecycle -- SpaceX is aiming to make this 100 percent in the future.

By Eric Ralph. Posted on May 29, 2018. Comments from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and other executives have confirmed that the company’s first two prototype Starlink internet satellites are healthy and progressing through a range of tests three months after launch .

In 1995, when he only 24 years old, Musk began reading for a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Materials Science from Stanford University in California, U.S. He left - after two days - to pursue an entrepreneurial career in the then-emerging software industry.

That same year, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web-based city guide for newspapers. The start-up was funded by a small group of investors, one of whom was reportedly their father. However, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in November 2017, Musk denied his father provided any financial assistance.

Either way, four years after founding Zip2, computer products and services giant Compaq bought the software for $307 million. Musk’s share of the deal was a check for $22 million.

In November 1999, Musk used $12 million from the sale of Zip2 to co-found X.com, an online banking company. The following year, it merged with rival firm Confinity and, two years later, it was renamed PayPal. In 2002, PayPal was bought by eBay for a massive $1.5 billion, albeit against Musk’s advice. Nevertheless, the “real-life Iron Man” still made a profit on X.com, turning his initial $12 million to $180 million.

SpaceX will launch 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on Wednesday, the first step in the company's plan to build a global satellite internet network. SpaceX 's Falcon 9 rocket, launching from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, will carry the satellites .

(Pictured) With PayPal co-founder and former CEO, Peter Thiel (L) in 2000.

In 2003, Musk co-founded Tesla Motors (later renamed Tesla, Inc.). As a company, Tesla’s stated mission has been to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future. On that note, in 2008 Tesla debuted the Roadster sports car.

Powered by electronic motors, Tesla claims the new version (expected to be available in 2020) is “the quickest car in the world,” with a top speed in excess of 250 mph (402 kph). Tesla's other cars include the Model S, the Model X and the Model 3.

(Pictured) At the launch of Tesla Model X all-electric crossover SUV in September 2015.

Musk is also founder, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX, a space exploration company involved in the development and manufacturing of spacecraft and rockets. Founded in 2002, it took SpaceX only six years to develop and launch Falcon 1 – the first privately-developed liquid-fuel launch vehicle. Four years after that, it created history again – the Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to deliver cargo to and return from the International Space Station (ISS).

Superhero fans will love this – Robert Downey Jr., the actor who brought Tony Stark, the cinematic “Iron Man,” to life – may have been inspired by Musk. In fact, the latter actually made a cameo in “Iron Man 2” (2000), where he meets Stark at a party and tries to discuss the idea of an “electric jet.”

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A family are desperately trying to locate an Irishman who has been missing in Tenerife for nearly two months. Peter Wilson, 32, travelled to Tenerife on Friday, March 22, and he was last seen on the evening of March 23. The Westmeath man’s family appealed for information regarding his movements on the last time he […]

60 Starlink satellites inside the Falcon 9 payload fairing. Elon Musk tweeted this photo of 60 Starlink satellites inside the fairing of a Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to launch on Remember these are going into more than a single orbital plane. Also less payload makes recovery of the booster easier.

Starlink ( satellite constellation). Read in another language. Watch this page. Edit. Starlink is a satellite constellation development project underway by SpaceX , to develop a low-cost, high-performance satellite bus and requisite customer ground transceivers to implement a new

Did you know Musk owns Wet Nellie – a custom-built submarine from the James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977)? The movie prop was built around the body of a Lotus Esprit S1 sports car and cost in excess of $700,000 when bought at auction in 2013.

For the record, Musk earns approximately $37,000 per year as CEO of Tesla, Inc. He’d prefer not to draw a salary at all, but California law prohibits earning less than the minimum wage. That said, according to a March 2018 report, Musk stands to earn over $50 billion in stock and awards over the next few years.

Musk believes humanity must expand its frontiers to include building civilizations in space, because the earth will probably become uninhabitable. In an article published in the academic journal New Space, Musk warned of an “eventual extinction event” for humankind, later tweeting: “Humanity is not perfect, but it’s all we’ve got.”

He thinks Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be the “most serious threat to the survival of the human race.” Speaking at a symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he said: “I'm increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish.”

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Prince Charles will launch the Combat Stress At Ease appeal at a reception at St James’s Palace.

The first 60 satellites are a test of sorts: SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said at a conference last week that they are not “Much will likely go wrong” on this mission, Musk said in a tweet. He added that SpaceX will need another six missions before Starlink can provide “minor”

Elon Musk’s space company is planning to launch 60 of its own satellites in a single launch this week, the first of more than 4,000 spacecraft planned for the Starlink network. If successful, the flight will make SpaceX the frontrunner in a tight race to be the first operator of an internet satellite network.

Despite (or perhaps because of) his reservations, Musk is co-founder and co-chairman of OpenAI, a “non-profit AI research company, discovering and enacting the path to safe artificial general intelligence.”

When Musk does hang up his entrepreneur’s boots, he wants to retire to Mars - the Red Planet. No, seriously. In a March 2018 interview, he said: "I will go if I can be assured that SpaceX would go on without me. I've said I want to die on Mars, just not on impact."

Musk provided early concepts and financial capital for the SolarCity Corporation (now a subsidiary of Tesla, Inc.), a firm specializing in solar-powered services. One of the largest solar energy firms in the United States, it was co-founded by Musk’s cousins – Lyndon and Peter Rive – in 2006.

In August 2013, he unveiled plans for a $10 billion hyper-fast transportation system. Built around the idea of a vactrain (vacuum tube train), the Tesla-SpaceX hyperloop is basically a system of sealed tubes within which passenger pods can travel at frighteningly fast speeds – potentially up to 760 miles per hour (1,223 km per hour).

(Pictured) At the 2017 SpaceX Hyperloop competition in Hawthorne, California, U.S.

On Feb. 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched Falcon Heavy, the company’s largest rocket to date and one regarded as the world’s most powerful since NASA’s Saturn V. Next up for Musk and SpaceX is the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which is expected to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch rockets and the Dragon spacecraft. More intriguingly, the BFR could ferry large numbers of passengers to Mars.

He is also the founder of The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company billed as providing an alternative to traffic congestion in major cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And, keen on recycling, Musk plans to use excavated rock and soil to create interlocking Leg-style bricks to build homes.

Ministers are set to sign off on the €3 billion broadband plan - here's what we know so far

Ministers are set to sign off on the €3 billion broadband plan - here's what we know so far

SpaceX satellites designed to beam internet coverage from space to under-served areas of the world have been revealed by Elon Musk ahead of their anticipated launch later this week. "First 60 SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon fairing.

In 2016, Musk unveiled solar roof tiles that eliminate the need for traditional panels and longer-lasting home battery. “This is sort of the integrated future. An electric car, a Powerwall and a solar roof. The key is it needs to be beautiful, affordable and seamlessly integrated,” Musk said while showcasing the products in Los Angeles.

In November 2017, Musk unveiled Tesla’s first electronic truck; he used the occasion to call diesel trucks “economic suicide.” The new truck, which is scheduled to go into production in May 2019, will reportedly offer a range of 500 miles (805 km) when fully loaded and come equipped with “thermonuclear explosion-proof glass” in the windshield.

On March 14, 2018, Musk posted a rather cryptic tweet. It said: “Thud!” and was followed by another that said: “That’s the name of my new intergalactic media empire, exclamation point optional.” The following day, reports confirmed the hiring of six staff members from The Onion, a digital satirical news organization. Quite what he intends to do with “Thud!” though, is anyone’s guess.

In mid-2018, when the young members of a junior football team got trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand, he offered to help out the rescue teams by asking the engineers at SpaceX and the Boring Company to build a mini-submarine, which he personally delivered to the location. By the time the vessel reached Thailand, eight of the 12 children were already rescued and hence, the authorities decided against using it.

On the personal front, Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson in 2000. Their first child together was born two years later but, sadly, he died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when he was only 10 weeks old. In 2004, the couple became parents to twin boys – Griffin and Xavier – and triplets – Damian, Saxon and Kai – in 2006. Musk and Justine divorced in September 2008.

In 2010, Musk married English actress, Talulah Riley. The couple were granted a divorce in 2012 but re-married the following year. The applied for a second divorce in 2014, which was withdrawn, and a third in 2016, which was granted.

25/25 SLIDES

SpaceX’s webcast of the launch is to start about 15 minutes before liftoff. The weather forecast gives an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions.

This will be SpaceX’s sixth launch of the year. The company will land the booster stage on a platform named “Of Course I Still Love You” floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the rocket carrying?

SpaceX — which usually ferries cargo to orbit for NASA or private companies — is its own customer this time. And the Falcon 9 rocket is not carrying just one satellite, but 60 identical ones.

Mr. Musk posted pictures of the Starlink satellites on Twitter.

The Starlink satellites will eventually form a constellation of satellites that are to offer internet to almost anywhere on Earth.

Last year, SpaceX launched two prototype satellites, called Tintin A and Tintin B.

The payload on this launch, at more than 30,000 pounds, is the heaviest ever launched by SpaceX, Mr. Musk said. He added that these satellites would be able to relay information by bouncing the data off a ground station. However, they lack a component planned for future versions: lasers that would allow the satellites to relay information to each other.

Each of the flat-panel satellites weighs about 500 pounds, powered by a single solar array. They are to be deployed about one hour after launch, steadily moving outward from a slowly spinning core. “It will almost seem like spreading a deck of cards on a table,” Mr. Musk said.

The satellites are to be switched on two to three hours after deployment.

Mr. Musk sounded a note of caution to tamp down expectations. “There is a lot of new technology here,” he said. “It’s possible that some of these satellites may not work. In fact, it’s possible, a small possibility, that all of the satellites may not work.”

A number of companies do satellite internet using geostationary communications satellites 22,200 miles above the surface. At that altitude, the time for the satellite to complete an orbit is exactly one day and thus it remains over the exact same spot on Earth as the planet rotates at the same rate.

That makes it straightforward for one satellite to provide internet for a swath of the surface below, but current services have drawbacks. They are not available everywhere and they are usually fairly expensive.

Because the data signals have to travel up 22,200 miles and then back down, the performance can be laggy. That does not matter if you are watching a movie on Netflix, but it becomes excruciating when playing an online game that relies on fast reflexes.

Because the satellites are lower, they travel faster. Thus, Starlink must provide a constellation of satellites whizzing around the planet. When one satellite moves away from one of its customers, another one must come into view in order to provide a continuous internet connection.

Mark Juncosa, vice president for vehicle engineering at SpaceX, said that with 12 additional launches, SpaceX could provide good coverage over the United States; 24 launches would put enough satellites to cover most populated areas; and 30 would cover the entire world.

If Starlink is successful, more satellites would be added to send and receive greater volumes of data.

Are other companies also looking to launch constellations of internet satellites?

Starlink’s competitors include OneWeb, Telesat, Iridium and Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

Why is SpaceX, a rocket company, going into the internet business?

For Mr. Musk’s dream of sending people to Mars, he is developing a giant spacecraft called Starship. He noted that SpaceX’s rocket launching business might grow to about $3 billion a year. By contrast, internet revenue could bring in $30 billion a year for the company, Mr. Musk said.

“We see this as a way for SpaceX to generate revenue that can be used to develop more and more advanced rockets and spaceships,” Mr. Musk said. “We think this is a key steppingstone on the way to establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the moon.”

What about orbital debris?

Currently, there are about 2,000 operational satellites around Earth. That number will multiply as constellations like Starlink are deployed.

“A majority of the satellites in orbit will be SpaceX, if things goes according to plan,” Mr. Musk said. “That is a big if, of course.”

The worry is what happens when satellites die. The proliferation of satellites will greatly increase the risks of collisions, and the many pieces of debris would in turn pose danger to other satellites. Mr. Musk said each Starlink satellite would possess data on orbits on all known pieces of space debris and automatically steer away from any that might cross its path.

With so many satellites, there will also be much more debris falling from space in the coming years.

SpaceX said that 95 percent of a Starlink satellite would burn up on re-entry, but that would still mean that about 25 pounds of debris would reach the surface. Mr. Musk said that discarded spacecraft would be aimed to the mostly empty Pacific Ocean and that the debris would come down in small pieces.

The chances of any one crashing satellite hurting or killing someone is small; the danger to you in particular is negligible. But adding up the risks of tens of thousands of satellites to the 7.5 billion people on Earth, the probability of someone being hurt somewhere become more significant.

MSN UK are Empowering Happiness for mental health awareness month. Find out more about our campaign and the charities working to stop people falling into crisis here.

Ministers are set to sign off on the €3 billion broadband plan - here's what we know so far.
Ministers are set to sign off on the €3 billion broadband plan - here's what we know so far

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